14 DAY TRIAL // By nature, hard disk drives can be installed in any sort of system as long as they possess the required interface, usually SATA, and the new additions to the WD Purple line definitely show it. They still have things they specialize in though.
When it comes to consumer systems, like desktops and laptops, HDD makers try not to pack too many perks unless it's the ultra high-end market they're targeting.
Not because it's hard to put them all in, but because doing so would add to the price, and it would needlessly make things expensive without there being a high chance of buyers ever actually benefitting from the technologies.
Specialized workloads are another matter entirely, as are enterprise customers or businesses. That's where products like the WD Purple come in.
The WD Purple HDD reaches 6 TB
Western Digital uses colors to indicate the so-called specialties of its hard disk drives. WD Green are the efficient ones, WD Red are the ones best suited for servers and NAS systems. WD Black are the high-end ones, for gaming systems and the like.
WD Blue are the “normal” ones, though the company also has other consumer storage devices. That leaves the WD Purple.
WD Purple, in a nutshell, is the hard disk drive line that Western Digital made for surveillance systems and the Internet of Things.
They have the AllFrame technology, which, paired with ATA streaming, allows video to be recorded with minimal frame loss, and also increases the number of supported drive bays per computer (server).
IntelliSeek is another advantage, with the ability to calculate the best seek speeds for info, according to workload. This lets the drives save power by only using the amount they require for the task.
Other than that, the WD Purple HDDs are your friendly neighborhood 3.5-inch magnetic storage devices. The new capacity of 6 TB is the only other thing that stands out really.
Availability and pricing
Western Digital is selling the surveillance-class WD Purple HDDs in 1 TB to 6 TB options. The 6 TB model (the only new one) has a tag of $329.99 / €259.5. If you have a particularly good haggler in your employ, you might even get a better price for larger orders.
Speaking of which, you can buy just one or up to eight of them and make them work well in a single system capable of recording information from up to 32 high-definition video cameras at once.